Because they deserve dessert too!
Could this recipe BE any more random? Cue Chandler Bing.
But if you’ve ever read my blog before then you know this recipe isn’t random at all.
Because I’m a total DOG LADY.
Look at how excited and happy Jude is waiting for a homemade treat!
“Quit your picture taking and fork them over!!”
I made these for Jude last weekend. His favorite homemade peanut butter bacon dog treats sounded perfect, but I decided to change things up a bit. With today’s homemade peanut butter dog treats, we have an added flavor: carrot.
The wonderful part about these homemade peanut butter carrot dog treats is that they’re super soft—perfect for senior dogs or those with sensitive teeth. Jude loves crunchy treats, but I think he loves these so much because they have a completely different texture to regular crunchy dog treats.
And they couldn’t be any easier to make! Simply combine the ingredients together in a large bowl, then the dough out to 1/4″ thickness and use cookie cutters to make shapes. The size of the dog treats is up to you. Jude’s about the size of a horse, so the big treats are perfect. We still break them up for him.
Bake the treats until browned. They’ll seem crunchy when you take them out of the oven, but they quickly soften up from the carrots inside.
Usually I bring half the batch over to other dog parents in our neighborhood, but freezing also works. See my make ahead tip in the recipe! 🙂
Before beginning, please check with your vet about any allergies your dog may have. If you have any questions or concerns about the ingredients I used, please consult with your vet.
Print
Soft Peanut Butter Carrot Dog Treats
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: fifteen 4-inch treats or thirty 2-inch treats
- Category: Dog Treats
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Soft-baked goodness for our pups!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (255g) natural creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup (180ml) skim milk
- 1 large egg (or 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce)
- 1 large carrot, shredded (or 8-ish baby carrots, around 2/3 cup shredded)
- 2 and 1/4 cups (290g) whole wheat flour* (spooned & leveled)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1/3 cup (28g) oats (either whole-rolled or quick oats are fine)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, gently mix the peanut butter, milk, egg, and carrot together with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Add the flour and baking powder. You may need to turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and use your hands to work in the flour. Mix in the oats. The dough is extremely thick and heavy.
- Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out into 1/4″ thickness. Cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Arrange on the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, or until very lightly browned on the bottom. Remove from the oven, and flip the treats to bake the other side for 10 more minutes. Want the treats to be a little more crunchy? Bake for 5 more minutes.
- Allow to cool completely before serving to your pup. Store at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Since the pups can’t eat the whole batch in a week, I usually freeze them. Jude loves them right out of the freezer too! The treats freeze well up to 2 months.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Glass Mixing Bowl | Silicone Spatula or Wooden Spoon | Rolling Pin | Dog Bone Cookie Cutter
- Flour: Unbleached all-purpose flour is safe for dogs, but whole wheat was more highly recommended by our vet because of its added health benefits. Again, please consult with your vet about any allergies your dog may have.
And just for fun, here is a picture of Jude as a pup. I can’t even handle it. His Eeyore stuffed animal was his absolutely favorite! ♥
Q: Do you have any pets? What kind? What is his/her name?
Reader Comments and Reviews
I have a dog, and a cat. My dog is a Aussie healer and he is almost 8 weeks old. His name is Kubo. We made the treats today and he loves them.
I have multiple dogs, all Flat-Coated Retrievers, so I prefer to make several batches of treats for freezing. I also like small treats so I can use them for training rewards. I also admit to trying to shorten my time in the kitchen. I rolled this out as a sheet and used a pizza cutter to score the dough into small 1/2″ squares. Worked out great. Dogs loved them.
Is there anything I can use to substitute wheat? My dog is allergic to wheat. Thanks
Hi Sally, your Jude is such a handsome boy!! Just love the pic of him anxiously awaiting for his dessert!! We inherited my husband’s parent’s dog after they passed away and she has just been the missing puzzle piece in our lives! We love her sooo much! Her name is Missy and she is a mix of black lab, German shepherd and leopard hound and she’s perfect! Also have a very sassy cat named Lucy that certainly beats to her own drum! Ha! Like cats do. She is also an inherited pet as she was dropped off as a kitten. These treats look perfect for our animal kids. Will be spoiling them with dessert this weekend! Thank you for thinking of the furry people of the world!!
Hi, we used to puppy raise for Leader Dogs, Rochester MI for 10 years, and we had 4 Golden Retrei
Hi, we used to puppy raise for Leader Dogs For The Blind and we had 4 Goldens of our own. We only have 1 dog now. Luke 11 yrs old, so I will make the dog biscuits for him!
Hi Sally, I’ve been following you for years, I love , love , love all your recipes. I haven’t found one yet I didn’t like. I’ve never commented before but I just had to in this one. My dog is yoyo, she is turning 18 this year. I can’t wait to make these for her and her sensitive teeth. She is a teacup chihuahua and I also have her daughter who is 15 this year, love my fur babies. Thanks for the wonderful recipes.
Happy birthday, Yoyo!
Hi Sally. So loved your dog pictures. He sure is a BIG boy. We have an adorable one and a half year old pure white 4 and a half pound Chihuahua, a gentle and sweet 13 yr old chi/pom mix and a 10 month old handsome and rascal of a kitty named Tobias, which means, “God is good”. We named him that because we adopted Tobias from the Okanagan Humane Society (we live in Canada).
I look forward to making these puppy treats for our girls. They sound delicious!
I loved this email that included the dog treat. Now I could bake a treat for my brother’s dog. Thank you for posted all your wonderful recipes.
Delicious treats. My dog loves them and so do I…. too bad I’m gluten free
My dogs loved these.. The recipe also was nice that it made so much so I have plenty to freeze and share with my friends. I even tried one. It was delicious… thank you.
Hi, Sally, what brand of peanut butter do you use? Should I used salted or unsalted??
Hi Lisa, we recommend consulting with a veterinarian if you have any questions about the best peanut butter to use. We usually use natural peanut butter with minimal ingredients that we’ve cleared with our vets.
For those of you asking about which type of peanut butter to use: Please make sure you DO NOT use any type that contains the sugar replacement ingredient Xylitol, which is TOXIC to dogs. I use natural peanut butter in the ones I make.
Hi! Can I use silicone mold instead of cookie cutter? Thank you 🙂
Ww haven’t tested it but can’t see why not! Let us know how it goes, Cindy 🙂
Hi there, will it be possible to change all flours to oat flour or coconut flour?
Hi Emma, We haven’t tested that but let us know if you do!
Will make again. So easy to make. My dog loves these and I like that it’s a healthy snack, thanks.
I’m making these for the 2nd time for our dog Sophi. She is 16 years old and needs soft dog treats. I “doctored” them up a bit and chopped up some leftover bacon we had for breakfast and threw in a few Tablespoons of the bacon grease and a little less peanut butter. I don’t take the time to cut them out- I just rolled them on the parchment paper in the pan and scored them in squares before I baked them and they came out great.
I just made a batch of these treats for my elderly dog, I did use 1% milk since that was all I had!
They are way easier to make than I thought. My dog loved the treats and even my husband tried them
and thought with a little salt, they taste good!! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
My 14 year old Poodle x Shih Tzu is such a fussy guts but has also had numerous teeth removed over the years (largely because she refuses to chew on anything that will help clean her teeth!) She struggles with hard biscuits but she absolutely demolished 2 of these the second they had cooled down!! Thank you 🙂
I made these with the hopes my aunts little dog (who is fussy and 17) would enjoy them. She loves them!! It’s an easy recipe Easy to make and healthier than the store treats. Since I didn’t have fancy dog bone cookie cutters I just cut them in two inch squares and they baked beautifully. Would highly recommend trying them.
I’m on my second March, which I bake for my 13 year old Staffie, as they’re soft. She loves them!
Hi Sally, I was thinking of making these for our dog. Do you think I could use 1% milk instead? I think our dog will enjoy these!
Hi Christine, The treats should turn out fine, it’s really up to you (and your vet) to decide if the higher fat content of whole milk would be ok for your pup!
Ya my dogs love this treats
Hi I’m wondering if these have to be refrigerated?
Hi Lorraine! Store at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Hello! I have a little labradoodle (labrador x toy poodle) called Cafe as in like the french word for coffee. He can not have peanut butter because once we gave some to him but he vomited it. I think he liked it because he will eat anything, but it makes him sick. Is there a good, healthy substitute for the peanut butter here? Thanks! Lots of love to you and Jude.
Leah
I have organic whole milk. Can I use that instead of skim milk?
Hi Cathy, The treats should turn out fine, it’s really up to you (and your vet) to decide if the higher fat content of whole milk would be ok for your pup!
My dogs (old and young) love these treats! One has a sensitive tummy so the limited and safe ingredients are a huge plus! It’s easy to make them soft or crunchy for their preference and tooth needs. I’ve made these over and over again, they even love them out of the freezer. Plus I don’t have to worry about whether it will harm my 2 year old when she gives the dogs treats and sneaks a bite herself haha…
Great recipe! Wondering if you can freeze in unbaked dough?
Hi Angie! We’ve never tried freezing unbaked dough since the baked treats freeze so well (see recipe notes).
My dog’s are toy dog’s so I mad the really small and just in half a cup of the batter made 25 pieces and have around 3 cups batter left
I have made these numerous times. My dog and every dog in the neighborhood loves them. Last week we had a ‘take your dog to work’ day and I made a few more dogs happy with these treats. Perfect recipe that yields a good amount of cookies to share.
Hi Sally,
I have an amazing dog which happens to be named Sally. I’m thinking about trying this recipe for her, could I use unsweetened almond milk instead of skim milk?
Also, can I use all-purpose unbleached flour?
Thanks,
Pepper
Hi Pepper! Unbleached all-purpose flour is safe for dogs, but whole wheat was more highly recommended by Sally’s vet because of its added health benefits. We’re unsure about the unsweetened almond milk and would recommend checking with your vet just to be safe. Hope your furry friend loves these treats!
Just have to chime in here because I made these treats today for my dog named Sally! ❤️❤️❤️
Almonds are not good for dogs, be careful
I can’t imagine any pup not liking these! I’m on my 4th batch
We have 2 pit bulls, Kayne (22 months) and Blayze (10 months). Kayne is a more “delicate” eater .. Blayze inhales his, and tries to take Kayne’s out of his mouth. They’re loving the treats! Thank you